Kupczak wins first Polish winter national title
Feb 16, 2020·Nordic Combined
On Friday, February 14, the Polish Senior Nordic Combined Championships were held at the HS-104 facility in Szczyrk and on the Kubalonka cross-country skiing tracks. Szczepan Kupczak won the championship title for the first time. Poland's vice-champion was Kupczak's clubmate Adam Cieślar. Wojciech Marusarz stood on the lowest step of the podium.
24 athletes stood at the start line of the Polish Senior Championships in Szczyrk but Szczepan Kupczak was out of reach of his rivals that day, confidently chasing his first championship title in winter. The leader of the Polish national team took the first place after the jumping part and never relinquished his lead again.
“I am very pleased with this victory, especially since it is my first gold medal won in the winter season in the Polish Championships”, Szczepan Kupczak commented. “I know that this season, my jumping shape is not the best and I will have to work on it to get these jumps back to normal. However, during the preparatory period we mainly focused on the cross-country part, which can be seen in the results, because I don't lose as much on the track as I used to. There was a bit of a loss on the hill but I was prepared for it. There was no main event this season, so it was the right time for these changes”, the new Polish champion added. “I know that I won most of the advantage on the hill but I can be really satisfied with the race”, he summed up.
Adam Cieślar made significant progress on the track and moved up from the 11th place after jumping. “It is the second place for me today I should be happy about that. I am happy with my race. From the beginning I threw myself into processing the losses from the ski jumping part and today it was enough for a silver medal”, said Adam Cieślar.
“Unfortunately, my jumps have been far below expectations for a long time I'm not jumping well and I can't help it right now. This jump in the Polish Championships was also not great, hence the very low place at the halfway point of the competition. I feel really good skiing but without a good jump there is nothing to think about satisfactory results on the international stage”, he concluded.
Wojciech Marusarz became the bronze medalist of this year's Polish Championships. “I assess the competition as a plus and I am happy about the next medal in the Polish Championships. I am certainly happy with the result on the hill because recently I had problems with getting a nice jump, so I think that this good order has returned”, remarked the third-ranked athlete of the event.
“As for the run, it was much better than last week. I had a cold then and my body didn't let me get a good result. Today I was skiing much better, although I started the race a little too quickly and I paid for it later. But ultimately it allowed me to win the medal, which I'm happy with”, he added. “The snow was wet today and didn't let me ski fast. You had to put more strength into this competition, but I like such conditions”, Marusarz concluded.
